Contrast

Display

You are here

The Environmental Group at Yigal Arnon & Co. offers transaction, litigation and regulatory counseling to leading clients in the private, business and government sector in the fields of energy and renewable energy, gas, water, sewage, desalination, waste treatment and more. We also provide environmental risk management services to large financial institutions, and walks our clients through financial closings in infrastructure and energy projects. For many years, we have helped private and public sector clients in drafting and submitting bids in gas, clean and renewable energy tenders and other environmental projects.

Ongoing and Transactional Environmental Counseling

Whether the environmental engagement of a business is obvious or not, environmental regulation and compliance affect the life of most businesses today. Our Environmental group advises the firm’s clients in their day-to-day activities and in transactions with various links to environmental regulation. The group also helps clients evaluate and minimize environmental liabilities that could arise in M&As, real estate transactions, planning and building projects and other commercial transactions. We also regularly advise clients on the management of due diligence reviews, on the identification and distribution of risks in sensitive transactions, on investment rounds and on financial closings. The group routinely works with clients on evaluation of future environmental damages and minimization of existing damages, and on environmental compliance, including recycling and waste disposal.

Regulation

Our Environmental Group offers ongoing environmental advice and updates to our clients, and helps them with regulatory and compliance requirements, permit processes, due diligence reviews in M&A procedures, and work with the various authorities and the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Projects

The Environmental Group at Yigal Arnon & Co. advises foreign and local private and public sector clients in infrastructure and energy projects, tender procedures, regulatory compliance, transactions and litigation, walking them through the applicable environmental requirements, risks and opportunities.The firm represents clients that manage some of the largest solar energy, renewable energy, offshore gas explorations, clean public transport, sewage removal and treatment, water treatment and other environmentally-related projects. We have gained extensive experience in the energy sector, and represented the government and various public-sector entities in some of the largest and most innovative projects in the country. The group has also been involved in regulation and litigation in the more “traditional” environmental spheres, such as hazardous or solid waste management, asbestos and air and water pollution. The group includes a large team of experts, and also engages lawyers from the firm’s other practice groups as necessary. The firm has played an active role in many high-profile public tenders in which government companies, banks and infrastructure companies were involved, in projects such as mass transit, solid and liquid waste management and water desalination, and other infrastructure projects. We have decades of experience representing the three key players in these kinds of projects – the government, the companies comprising the bidder, and the financing banks. Our clients also include some of the leading cleantech funds in Israel and several startups in this field. In solar energy, the firm represents clients in a range of transactions, advising on corporate and commercial matters. For example, we were involved in a solar roofing installation and maintenance project, EPC (Engineering Procurement & Construction), and of course in the ongoing representation of clients who operate in this field. We represent the State of Israel in the largest BOT projects in the country. Yigal Arnon & Co. has acquired extensive environmental protection experience while working on the light rail projects in Jerusalem (Red and Green Lines) and Tel Aviv (Red Line), construction of thermo-solar and photovoltaic power plants, natural gas ventures, sewage and water treatment projects, desalination and other utilities projects. In our capacity as counsel to the government in its solar energy projects, we required in-depth understanding of all legal and regulatory aspects of the planning, construction and operation, and acquaintance with all relevant parties. Some other projects and services in which we were involved and have a bearing on the environment include biogas facilities; contracts for the purchase of electricity from private-sector producers; purchase of natural gas; contracts intended to discontinue use of environmentally unfriendly fuels and to transition to natural gas; transportation projects that are based on clean energy; and compliance with environmental standards. As one of the first law firms to enter into the thriving offshore natural gas industry in Israel, Yigal Arnon & Co. has represented some of the largest banks in the world in their capacity as financing banks for these transactions. We were involved in the sale of several oil assets and in largescale financing projects, both in the project finance stage and in the pre-transactions and post-completion stages. Our clients include oil and gas players and international banks. The group includes regulation experts, who performed due diligence reviews for these banks ahead of their investments in these projects, and for other large multinationals in M&As with leading Israeli firms in this sector. The firm also represents natural gas clients, including large consumers, helping them with their purchase agreements and with converting their plants to natural gas.

Insurance and Torts

Yigal Arnon & Co. has a well-developed environmental claims, torts and insurance claims practice, and has represented large companies and multinationals in litigations of this kind. The firm represents various clients, including some of the largest commercial entities in Israel, leading local and foreign insurers, and individuals. We have extensive know-how in representation of Israeli and foreign insurers, both as plaintiffs and as defendants in environmental actions, in the courts and in arbitrations. With an established insurance and torts practice, we also represent mega corporations in largescale environmental claims that are at the heart the Kishon River, Ramat Hovav and Mount Carmel fire disaster claims. Having handled many substantial proceedings in this field, the firm has developed an expertise in defending corporations against mega-suits in torts, alleging environmentally-induced disease.